In Situ Nanoscale Characterization of Electrical and Magnetic Properties of 3D Nanostructures by Combination of AFM, SEM and FIB

Combining different analytical methods into one instrument is of great importance for the simultaneous acquisition of complementary information. Especially the in-situ combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables completely new insights in the micro and nano-world. In this work, we present the unique in-situ combination of scanning electron and ion microscopy (SEM/FIB) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for nanoscale characterization [1-2].<br/>We will present a variety of case studies to highlight the advantages of interactive correlative in-situ nanoscale characterization for different materials and nanostructures. We show results for <i>in-situ</i> electrical characterization by conductive AFM for 2D materials as well as electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) of piezoceramic films that enables the precise analysis of grain boundary potential barriers in semiconducting BaTiO₃-based ceramics [3]. The grain boundaries were located by BSE-SEM and afterwards measured with in-situ EFM. The barriers were shown to be significantly thinner and more pronounced as the amount of SiO₂ was increased from 0 to 5 mol%. These results can be directly correlated with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements in order to link the AFM and SEM data to the crystallographic microstructure.<br/>In addition, we will present results for the in-situ characterization of magnetic nanostructures by combination of SEM and high-vacuum magnetic force microscopy (MFM). For the in-situ MFM measurements we use specialized magnetic cantilever probes that are fabricated using electron beam-induced deposition (FEBID) for high-aspect ratio magnetic tips that surpass standard magentic cantilever tips in lateral and magnetic resolution. The SEM enables to identify the grain boundaries on multilayer thin-film samples or stainless steel in order to measure the magnetic properties directly via MFM with nanometer resolution.<br/><br/>[1] D. Yablon, et al., Microscopy and Analysis,<b> 31 </b>(2), 14-18 (2017)<br/>[2] S.H. Andany, et al., Beilstein J. Nanotechnol., <b>11</b>, 1272-1279 (2020)<br/>[3] J.M. Prohinig, J. Hütner, K. Reichmann, S. Bigl, Scripta Materialia, <b>214</b>, 114646 (2022)